Walgreens will close 200 stores to cut costs

Walgreens plans to close 200 stores throughout the U.S. File Photo by Billie Jean Shaw/UPI

CHICAGO, April 9 (UPI) -- Walgreens, the country's largest drugstore chain, announced plans to close 200 of 8,232 stores in order to cut $500 million in costs.

The company that merged with European drug retailer Alliance Boots last year, to form Walgreens Boost Alliance, said that the store closures were part of a larger plan to reduce costs by $1.5 billion by the end of the 2017 fiscal year.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the larger plan includes, "a corporate reorganization and a streamlining of information technology." The company will also be cutting back on promotions at stores that cut too deeply into its profit margins.

Locations for which stores will close have not been decided. USA Today reported that Walgreens' spokesman Philip Caruso said that there is "no hard timeline" in place for when the stores will close their doors.